Bishop, Spencer, McKechnie advance to semifinal round of home run derby

Courtesy Marc Pado
North Tahoe senior Baird Bishop takes a hack during the preliminary round of the Triple-A home run derby at Aces Ballpark on Sunday. Bishop, teammate Colin Spencer and Truckee's Andy McKechnie were among the eight qualifiers to advance to the semifinal round on June 2.

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North Tahoe and Truckee baseball players held their own in the power department Sunday.

Three of the eight players who qualified for the semifinal round of the Triple-A home run derby at Aces Ballpark hail from the two schools, as the Lakers’ Baird Bishop and Colin Spencer and the Wolverines’ Andy McKechnie made the cut.

Truckee’s Aaron Pado and Jackson Rohlf and North Tahoe’s Mitchell Myers also competed.

The semifinal round is scheduled for June 2. The top two sluggers from that round will compete head-to-head before the Reno Aces’ game on July 3. The winner advances to the Triple-A home run derby, also at Aces Ballpark, during all-star weekend on July 15.

A total of 19 players representing several area high schools from the Division I to Division III ranks were challenged by a stiff breeze blowing in from left field. Contestants received one point for a hit to the warning track, two points for a hit off the wall and three points for anything over the wall.

It wasn’t as easy as it looked.

While Sunday’s event was anticipated to be only one round, the only player to score a single point was Bishop, who automatically advanced to the semifinal with a hit to the warning track.

With no one else scoring, the warning track was “moved” in about 30 feet for the second round, where McKechnie and Spencer each scored

a point, along with two other players. Three others advanced in a third round.